mystery solved

You guys, all those missing bees? They're just fine. Apparently they've moved in with my mum.

the bees' front door

Despite that modest crowd at their front door, there's apparently about 70,000 of the buzzy little freeloaders that have moved into her living-room wall. This isn't surprising: my mother's always had a knack of acquiring strays. My childhood was filled with cats, dogs, birds, horses, rabbits, a tortoise, and a steady string of other people's children, all of them professing that they liked it best here and deciding to stay. She's a sucker for soulful eyes, basically.